Lakeview Adult ID!

Try as we might, we’ve never gotten an ID from the Lakeview site, even though there have been birds there for years. This year, Mary and I met a man named Bob who lived in the building. We gave him our cards and chatted with him a bit. He knew about the birds and seemed eager to help if he could. A few days later, we received and email from Mergel Funsky, also a resident of the building and a friend of Bob’s. To our delight, he had pictures of one of the adults sitting on his balcony. To our extreme delight, the leg bands of said adult were readable. So, without further ado, let me introduce you to Lakeview’s adult female: Scruffy (b/g N/38), born 2007 at the Firstar Center in Milwaukee, WI. This is the same site that Evanston’s adult female, Nona, came from, although the two have different parents.

Thank you so much Mergel, for the picture, for allowing me to post the picture to this blog and for allowing me to post your email!

Every once in a rare while, I actually let Simon send out real pictures, instead of the ones I draw. But that’s only on a very special occasion, because the real world isn’t as interesting as mine. But today was one of those special days – because Ralph came to visit us!

See, Chicago has made the Peregrine Falcon its official bird, because even though it’s an endangered species, approximately 20 pairs of them live in the city! The city put little colored bands on their feet, to track them. And, get this: two of the falcons nest right in our building (in a niche, on the west side, about floor 17). And we see them flying around, above and below our balcony. But yesterday (Saturday) while Simon and his magician buddies were doing their magic in the kitchen, one of the falcons flies onto our balcony and sits there, just watching the card tricks. And he seemed to be comfortable, even though magicians sometimes produce doves. So, the magicians all sat there, watching the bird (who didn’t do any card tricks, but still was the center of attention). He seemed to like our balcony, with the sun on his back, so he stayed a while. (Usually Simon’s card tricks can get pretty boring). I decided the bird needed a name, so I called him Ralph.

This afternoon (Sunday) Ginny, Simon and I were eating lunch and watching TV, and Ralph flies onto our balcony railing for another visit – and decides to watch TV! He’s peering in, watching the colors on the screen, preening his feathers, and scoping out our kitchen (through the glass balcony window). So Simon gets my yellow hard hat, and starts moving it around – and Ralph follows it back and forth, up and down, with his head, like he’s entranced with it. Ginny gets the camera and starts shooting pictures, and then Simon takes the camera (because I’ve taught him photography) and Ralph starts posing for him.

So, for all you nature lovers, attached are a few of the photos. Keep in mind that (for you photography buffs) this wasn’t the best Kodak moment, because Simon was shooting through a screen and a glass window, and it was all backlit by the sun – but Ginny wouldn’t let Simon go out on the balcony, because she was afraid Ralph might fly into the house, or would get scared and fly away, or might bite Simon. (I was afraid he might eat my lunch!)

Ralph stayed there for over fifteen minutes, so now we have a houseguest. But don’t worry, I’ll get back to my own artwork soon.

Related

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY

If you find a peregrine on the ground, Mary Hennen has put up some information along with emergency contact numbers for the Chicago region on the FIELD MUSEUM'S PEREGRINE FALCON PAGE

For those of you not from the Chicago region, the information on what to do when you find a downed peregrine is still valuable, even if the numbers are not. It is highly probable your own area has monitors. My suggestion would be to try wildlife rescue organizations or rehabbers, Animal Control and/or any zoo or natural history museum type place in the area.